Cultivating a Culture of Evangelism - Part 4

1. Nurture a Prospect List - Lovingly cultivate a list of precious souls that need a personal connection and be intentional about building relationships with them.    This list will come from a variety of sources.  Enlist a coordinator to help with the management of the list but don’t delegate it out to the point that you lose personal and compassionate oversight of the people on the list.  Pray for them regularly.  Possibly the best way to build this list is through “pre-evangelism” ministries such as children’s ministries and benevolence efforts.  Ask the church members for names of people they know who might a appreciate a personal visit.  Provide cards specifically for this purpose for people throughout the church meeting place and regularly remind them of the presence and purpose of such cards.  Develop an email list of people with whom you can communicate the gospel that do not have a church family and without bombarding them continually reach out to them in encouraging ways.  Remember this is not just a list of names on a page but these are precious souls who need Jesus.  Without Him they are hurting and have no hope nor reliable guidance through life.  These are the people for whom we live and breathe.  Let us find them, love them, and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them!

1. Provide Evangelistic Resources - One of the biggest hesitations for most of our church members is that they do not feel capably equipped to answer people’s objections.  First, I remind them that they are not commanded to answer all objections but to share the gospel, make disciples, and teach all the things Jesus has taught them.  You are the greatest expert witness in the world regarding what Jesus has taught you!  Moreover, it should be our goal to be the best we can be in all that we do, especially our witnessing!  Provide the resources people need to make them stronger and more confident in their everyday witnessing.  Introductory books on Apologetics like “More Than A Carpenter” by Josh McDowell and “The Case for Christ” by Lee Strobel and "The Reason for God" by Tim Keller are inexpensively available and can be a great tool to strengthen believers in their outreach efforts.  Good gospel tracts may be hard to find but find some and use them.  Have some business cards made that have the church’s information on one side and a gospel presentation on the other.  P.S. - if you leave them at a restaurant make sure you are nice and leave a good tip!  Nothing is more obnoxious than a hypocrite.  Write some pamphlets that answer some of the main questions you deal with in ministry and make them available for the people.  Place these resources in locations that are always before the people and keep them readily available.  This is just another swing of the plow in cultivating a culture of evangelism.